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If you are going to learn how to save money, as in saving money on just about everything in life, then learn from the best. Steve Economides, his wife Annette Economides, (their real last name) and their family of seven (five children) flourished on one modest income, and are smiling today because of it.

They have been dubbed the name “America’s Cheapest Family”, and while they have accomplished a lot financially, they still wear that name with joy and pride.

Here’s what we have today:

What was once a frugal life out of necessity has become a life of riches in so many ways. Fortunately, the Economides are willing to speak about their life activities and lifestyle choices and are here today to teach us all a lot.

Here’s where they started:

Steve and Annette Economides got married in 1982. Steve was making $7.00 an hour, and Annette, who was not working at the time, became a new mommy by their first anniversary one year later. It seems as if they weren’t thinking of their life as one of a financial journey then. They were just trying to get by.

How would you like to pay off your first home in just 9 years? Or pay cash for your next car? How about spending less than half of what other families do on groceries? On this episode of The Dollar Stretcher Interview, meet Steve & Annette Economides, a couple who has done just that and much more to save big bucks for their family. Join us as we ask America's Cheapest Family how they managed these wonderful financial feats and see what they can teach you about frugality.

6 Money-Saving Tips From America's Cheapest Family

By Lisa Horten

The topic of financial planning may sound a bit dull, but when I heard about a family who paid off their first home in just nine years on an annual income of $35,000, my ears perked up. The Economides (as fate would have it, that is their real name) aren't your typical penny-pinchers. They're a couple who has mastered the art of smart saving and spending, even with a limited income and large family. When Steve and Annette Economides wed in 1982, Steve was working as a graphic designer, making $6.50 an hour, while his wife ran their home like a finely tuned, cost-effective corporation. As the years passed, Steve and Annette welcomed five children into their family, eventually putting them all through college without a single student loan. Intrigued yet? I sure was! Here's my takeaway from a conversation with America's (self-proclaimed) "cheapest family."

Run Your Home Like It's a Business

"We had a budget. We had a money management system that we sat down and committed to working with," Annette says of how the Economides set their household up from the get-go. "Every two weeks, we had a budget meeting, kind of like a business, and we figured our home should turn a profit. That's what we focused on."

Don't Let Your Kids Break the Bank

I was pretty amazed that the Economides were able to succeed with all of their financial accomplishments (especially that of sending all of their kids to college without a single loan) with not one, not two, but five children. That's a big family! When I asked them how they did it, Annette said that they really didn't have to alter their spending too significantly with the arrival of each new child.

"We've always focused on developing systems," Steve says. "Annette developed a hand-me-down system. She had boxes in the garage where the kids would put their outgrown clothes, so that when the next kid came along, we knew right where to get them. That saved us a ton of money on clothes."

These 29 surprising and easy moves will help you find the best prices, avoid the sneakiest store tricks, and prevent those costly impulse buys.

Regardless of whether you’re feeding just yourself or a whole family, you probably find that groceries take a big bite out of your paycheck.

Food is the third-largest household expense, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. And for a family of four, the average monthly tab runs between $568 for the super thrifty to $1,293 for those on a more liberal budget, according to the USDA.

We had a wonderful time chatting with Marie before our segment. As the mother of eight children she totally understands the value of training children to work, earn and manage money. We shared some of the tools we've developed to teach our kids to learn to be financially independent.

MONEYSMART FAMILY FACT SHEET

The MoneySmart Family System on the Marie Osmond Show

The USDA estimates that it will cost parents almost $260,000 to raise child from birth to the age of 17

Steve & Annette Economides, known as The MoneySmart Family, saved more than 1 million dollars raising their 5 kids. And the money they did spend was invested in their kids to train them to become financially independent.

They developed a system over a period of several years called MoneySmart Kids and describe it in their book The MoneySmart Family System.

Most parents are unaware of the consequences of the 5/50/500 rule. Basically any time you pay for something for your child without allowing them to earn all or part of it you fall victim to the escalating rule.

The 5/50/500 Rule

$5 stage: Between the ages 0 to 5 it will cost you $5 every time you give in to your child

Do you have too much month at the end of your money? Meet Steve & Annette Economides, they’ve been called “America’s Cheapest Family!” They will share how you can not only survive but thrive and stop living paycheck to paycheck Saturday morning at 9:00 with Roger and Sally Barton on “Portraits – Snapshots of life, hope and faith.”

Here's the back story on Roger & Sally Barton. In 1982 when we were first married, we helped to run a young married's class at the church we attended. There were about 25 couples in the class and Roger and Sally were one of the couples. Roger worked for an insulation company and helped us save a lot of money on our heating and cooling costs by "blowing in" much better insulation into the attic of our first home. A few years later they moved to Tucson where Sally took a job with Family Life Radio. In 1992 we did a radio interview there with hosts Randy Carlson and Kevin Lehman, along with our friend and mentor Jody Humber - who had just released his first book, "Dollars and Sense." Sally was the producer of that program.

We lost track of Roger and Sally until 2014 when we received a call from Nancy at AZ Shine Radio who wanted us to come to Prescott to do a one hour interview! Sally is now the station manager of listener supported AZ Shine 90.9! There are so many more connection points that we could share. Roger and Sally are true shining lights and beacons of hope to the community and the world!

It was a great opportunity to catch up and get reacquainted. We laughed and laughed at the different connection points we've had in the past and about where God has taken us all in recent years.

Here's radio host Kelly's recipe for homemade laundry detergent. She says that she made two batches that have lasted her several years!

LET’S MAKE SOMETHING

I’ve talked about making cleaners and whatnot, but I have never really shown how absolutely EASY it is. So let’s get on about easy.

Here is everything you will need for prep.

1 – Emptied and clean liquid laundry detergent containers. Save them as you go or ask if any of your friends have any.

Rachel Cruze, the daughter of financial guru Dave Ramsey, really wanted to go to Auburn University, which to outsiders wouldn't seem like much of a problem. Ramsey's financial success meant the family could pay for any college she wanted.

"But we live out what we preach," says Cruze.

Ramsey told her they would gladly pay the cost of four years of in-state tuition. She would pay anything beyond that."I thought that was harsh," Cruze says.

But then she discovered it cost three times more at Auburn University in Alabama than college in her home state of Tennessee. And the education was not three times better, she says."I thought, 'Wow! My parents are smart,'" she says with a laugh. "Going to that college didn't make any financial sense."

And so she went to the University of Tennessee and graduated debt free.

This makes her rare. Seven out of 10 students graduate with student loan debt averaging $29,400, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, an education research nonprofit. In June 2010, student loan debt passed credit card debt, and now is $1.08 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.

With rising college costs, it isn't a wonder many turn to loans. The Department of Education says the average cost of a public, four-year college degree rose from $16,900 in 2000 to $23,200 in 2012. And that's adjusting for inflation. What's worse, the "total" cost doesn't include the interest students will pay over the life of their loans.

Many may feel the cost is worth it; Pew Research Center found millennials in 2013 with college degrees made median annual earnings $17,500 more than their peers who only graduated from high school.But even with so many resorting to student loans, Cruze, who just finished co-authoring the new book "Smart Money Smart Kids" with her father, insists that graduating debt free is not something that is just for those with well-to-do parents.

Normal is crazy

Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, agrees that student loans are not necessary and teaches to people at her church in the Washington D.C. area how to go to college without debt.

"They look at me like I must be from Mars," she says. "They actually get belligerent. They can't conceive of having to save enough for college. And even parents who have saved take out loans."

Singletary says many people do not save precisely because they know student loans are available.

"Can you see how crazy that is?" she says.

Cruze says a friend of hers went to college so she could get a dream job. But when that dream job became available, her friend had to turn it down. The job wouldn't pay enough to live and still pay the minimum student loan payments.

The Economides have found fame as America’s Cheapest Family, surviving on half a normal family’s budget, but many of their frugal methods do make sense. Malaysians can learn a thing or two from them.

THOUGH there are many people in the world truly deserving of the unflattering title, “cheapskate”, a family in the United States has found ways to stretch the boundaries of extreme frugality without going overboard.

A few years ago, the story of Steve and Annette Economides made headlines when people learned of how their family of seven could survive on half the grocery budget of the average American family.

Though it is by sheer coincidence that their surname sounds like the word “economy”, the frugality of their methods bordered on the extreme.

The Economides family plan and do their grocery shopping once a month, buying only items that are heavily discounted and plan an entire month’s worth of meals based on what they buy.

So effective have their methods been that they found success in releasing a book “The Money Smart Family System” and giving talks on sharing their frugal practices all over the United States.

Between purchasing marked-down foods near its expiration date for freezer storage and not letting a single supermarket coupon go to waste, the self-bestowed title of “America’s Cheapest Family” is well justified.

Although we have yet to identify a Malaysian counterpart to this, many Malaysian families have simple tips and ideas to save a little money on your grocery expenses to put you in the running.

According to some, it pays to look at local wet markets for things like meat and fresh produce.“I usually go to the wet market because the groceries that I can get there are much cheaper than at the supermarket,” said 58-year old homemaker Alyssa Tay.

“If it’s possible, choose local produce over imported ones and try to buy those that are in season.”

Or in the case of meat products, local butchers and delis may offer better prices for items of similar quality.

Tay’s daughter, Kelly Ch’ng, 26, helps out with the grocery shopping and adds that one foolproof method to avoid overspending is to stick to a shopping list and make sure that they do not buy unnecessary items.Homemaker Hartini Mohd Saleh agrees with this method, saying that practising moderation in their shopping is great to ensure that they live within their means.

“However, if I have coupons for the items I could use or if those items are on sale, I will certainly think twice about buying more of it,” said Hartini.